Does She Think I'm Dead?

Cheng Chao sneered:

"That's because you weren't targeted by the Little Demon King. If she had, you'd know how formidable she is."

Do you know the second prince of Kingdom of Khotan? He was only allowed to return after paying several cartloads of grain, several cartloads of jade, and several thousand taels of gold.

"What? This little boy is really that amazing?"

Cheng Chao couldn't help but say, "Boy, are you blind? That's clearly a girl."

Everyone gasped, "A girl? How powerful can a five-year-old girl be?"

"Exactly! I don't think a 5-year-old could be that capable."

Cheng Chao said coldly:

Even my father and the prefect couldn't do anything about them.

They're wanted criminals now, but do you see them afraid? Not at all.

Anyway, I'm going back now. I need to talk to my dad about this.

Cheng Xiao's subordinates are reporting:

"What? You're saying the gold and grain in the cave are gone?"

Didn't you say that Long Live Mountain would definitely be fine?

He slumped into his chair. He had put in a lot of effort to acquire all this gold and grain. The gold came from the profits of these few deals, plus all the taxes he collected.

The grain was something he had plundered bit by bit.

Now he has nothing left; isn't this going to kill him?

The man below nodded and said, "Didn't you tell us to go take a look today? When we did, it was completely empty."

Cheng Xiao muttered to herself:

"Impossible, impossible, nobody knows about this."

Did we have a traitor among us? How did those people find out? It must have been Zhou Wanwan who did it.

Go quickly and fetch the sorceress and Jiang Wu.

Jiang Wu arrived quickly, and when Cheng Xiao told him what had happened, he was dumbfounded. "Impossible! Only the two of us know about Long Live Mountain, along with a few servants."

Cheng Xiao sighed and said:

"I don't know how that brat found out."

Now that we know they were behind everything, what should we do?

Old Madam Zhou arrived very quickly, swaying with her hips. Now that she's rich, she wears silk clothes.

Her face was painted like a matchmaker's, all red and rosy. Cheng Xiao looked at her with disgust and said, "Why are you dressed like a matchmaker now?"

Old Madam Zhou chuckled and said, "They all say this kind of makeup is popular in Beijing now, and I think it looks pretty good too."

"Don't even mention how good it was, something terrible has happened! All my gold bars and food are gone. Can you figure out who's behind this?" Cheng Xiao said.

Old Madam Zhou pretended to do some calculations and said, "Oh dear, it doesn't really matter whether I calculate it or not, isn't it all that little girl Zhou Wanwan's doing?"

Cheng Xiao wandered around the room with her hands behind her back:

"She's a bandit, a robber, a notorious thief."

How did she manage to do that? Nobody else knew about it. Could it be that we leaked the information ourselves?

Jiang Wu quickly shook his head and said:

"As you know, I'm always very tight-lipped, and you won't reveal anything on your own initiative, so these subordinates are fine."

I have no idea how she knew; it's like she has eyeliner installed in her house.

Cheng Xiao shook her head and said:

"Every time we have a conversation, we have to get everyone out of the house."

How could she have managed to slip through the cracks? It's simply unbelievable.

Old Madam Zhou also said:

"Yes! I think this is really strange. How could she have that kind of ability?"

How about this? I'll send a few people to check out the mountain stronghold.

Cheng Xiao looked at her and said, "Why don't you send a few people to the mountain stronghold? Do you think they'll let you go there?"

Old Madam Zhou thought for a moment and said:

"There are a few families in the village with whom I have a particularly good relationship, so I suggested they give it a try."

I'd also like to know how they're doing now.

Cheng Xiao squinted and nodded, saying, "Yes, go and find out."

Then Cheng Chao walked in and said, "Father..."

Cheng Xiao felt a headache coming on just looking at him, and frowned as she said:

"What father? I don't have a father like you."

Bah! I don't have a son like you. You've grown up now, haven't you? You've learned to frequent brothels? How old are you?

Cheng Chao quickly said, "Dad, I ran into Zhou Wanwan."

Cheng Xiao was taken aback and looked at him, saying, "Zhou Wanwan? Isn't she at Black Wind Mountain Stronghold?"

Cheng Chao, who was standing next to him, shook his head and said, "I saw her at the brothel. She was competing with me for the title of courtesan. When I realized it was her, I was almost scared to death."

Cheng Xiao glanced at him and said, "You good-for-nothing! You can't even beat a courtesan. What use are you?"

Cheng Chao said aggrievedly, "Who is she? She's the chieftain of Black Wind Stronghold, how can we afford to offend her?"

Cheng Xiao sighed and said, "Don't cause me any trouble. Go back to the backyard."

After Cheng Chao rolled away, Cheng Xiao looked at the two of them and said:

"Is this brat deliberately showing off to me?"

They stole my things and still dare to swagger in and out of brothels.

Does she think I'm dead? It's infuriating!

Old Madam Zhou sighed and said, "Alright then! I'll go to the mountain stronghold myself and try to persuade them."

Old Madam Zhou was also quite curious about this mountain village.

When she got home, she called her eldest, second, and third sons over and said, "What do you think is our plan to get to Black Wind Stronghold?"

The eldest son, Zhou Fu'an, was startled. "Mother, why are you going to Black Wind Stronghold? What if you get tied up there?"

The second son, Zhou Fukang, asked with a bright smile, "Mother, what are we going to the mountain stronghold for?"

The third son, Zhou Fuyu, sighed and said, "I don't think they'll let us go up the mountain, Mother. Let's just forget about it?"

Old Madam Zhou looked at them and said:

"How will we know if we don't try? Let's buy some good snacks."

"Take two more chickens and say we're going to the mountain for a look. I'm his mother, how could I disagree?"

Old Man Zhou nodded and said, "Yes, I want to go visit my son. Why can't I go?"

Zhou Fuyu thought for a moment and said:

"I know a way to contact them."

I'll have Daniu and Erniu's families from our village contact them then."

Old Madam Zhou's eyes lit up and she said, "Do Daniu and Erniu have connections with their side?"

Zhou Fuyu nodded and said:

"I heard it from Daniu and Erniu's dads. They said that their family can eat fish and chicken from time to time now."

Sometimes they would even bring them some food from the mountain.

Old Madam Zhou was so angry that she rolled her eyes:

"This whole family are ungrateful wretches, see? I told you they couldn't be tamed!"

Logically, shouldn't they have given us some food? But what happened?

When do you see them sending us gifts during holidays or festivals?

The eldest daughter-in-law beside her nodded and said, "That's right! I've always disliked them; this family has no conscience."

The third daughter-in-law sighed and said:

"They're not family, so naturally we can't tame them."

However, their family is no ordinary people now, and we can't afford to offend them. First of all, we must adopt the right attitude.

Once we get there, we need to be kind and gentle, even a little coaxing and deception, otherwise we really won't get any benefits at all.